The B oston A rchitectural College is pleased
to announce that Rudolph Bedar ’51, AIA
Emeritus wa s honored with the Distinguished
Alumni in Practice Award for Architecture.
He was nominated a nd selected to receive
the award by his alumni peers for his
distinguished body of work spanning 60
years in the Architecture profes sion.
Rudy began his career in 1945 at the
Architectura l Association School of Architec-
ture in London. In 1946, he returned to the
US to f urther his education, a nd from
1946–1951 he attended the BAC, then the
Boston Architectural Center. Rudy earned
a Beaux Arts Diploma in Architecture at
L’Ecole Des Be au x Artes de Fonta inebleau
and won the first prize in the Boston Society
of Architects Traveling Scholarship competi-
tion in 1951. He wa s a runner-up in both 1952
a nd 1953 for the Rotch Traveling Scholarship.
Rudy joined the te aching sta ff a s a Studio
Instructor at the BAC in 1951, a nd mentored
a nd educ ated scores of de sign students over
a five-year period.
From 1953 to 1954, Rudy was Principal-in-
Charge of the Boston office of Gruz en &
Partners, N Y. In 1956, Rudy opened Beda r
a nd Alpers Architects in Boston with partner
Phinea s Alpers, AIA. In both 1963 and 1964,
Bedar and Alpers won the National Associa-
tion of Home Builders Hous e of the Yea r
Award. The firm closed in 1977 when Rudy
opened Bedar & Associates Architects in
Needha m, MA, where he currently serves
a s Principal.
Throughout his 60 year c areer, Rudy
has amassed an extensive breadth of
experience in a ll phases of architecture as
a detailer, designer, specification writer, a nd
land planner. He has served as Project
Architect, overseeing the de sign of historica l
buildings, recreational facilities, educational
facilities, space planning, and housing for
low income, elderly, multi-family, mixed
income, high a nd low rise. His work has
been prominently featured in Life Magazine,
House and Home Magazin e, a nd Remodeling
Magazine.
Rudy’s is a family of architects. Sons Cliff
a nd Andy followed in their father’s footsteps,
both earning their Master of Architecture
from the BAC. Cliff was awarded the Boston
Society of Architects Traveling Scholarship
in 1985, exac tly 35 years a fter his father.
Rudy is now 88 yea rs old, still designing
a nd hand-drafting his work. He represents
a n era gone by, but is appreciated by those
who have expressed themselves in pen and
ink or a No. 314 dra fting pencil. Thos e who
know Rudy consider him a n architect’s
architect. He explains that he is not a “talk-
a-tect,” rather he is an articulate, imaginative
c reator of design whose distinguished body
of work spe ak s for itself.
Distinguished Alumni in Practice Award
Rudy’s distinguished body of work spans 60 years.
Rudy Bedar ’51
Stephen Messinger ’11
PRACTICE
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ALUMNI NEWS ] DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI IN PRACTICE AWARD